Mumbai: The most popular of International Cricket Council (ICC)’s white-ball world events - the T20 World Cup may be in for a rejig with the introduction of the Super 10 phase to replace the Super 8s. This was among a raft of proposals that cricket’s governing body presided over during last week’s annual board meeting in Scotland.
A final call will be taken in subsequent meetings, but modification to the T20 World Cup format is most likely to be approved, an ICC board director told HT. There are two-fold objectives behind the change. One is to bring more big ticket matches to the tournament, another to add more competitive edge to knockout qualification.
At present, Round 1 sees five teams divided in four Groups which accounts for 40 matches - that’s 73 percent of the 55-match tournament. That’s unusually high for the early rounds involving significant presence of Associate nations. Two teams from each Group qualify for Super 8s, which sees eight teams further divided in two Groups of four. This round to decide the semi-finalists is only 12-matches strong.
Under the changed format, four teams would be divided into five Groups during Round 1, trimming the early exchanges to 30 matches (58%) of the entire competition. Subsequently, two teams from each group would qualify for Super 10s, involving two groups of five teams each. The Super 10s would be a 20-match affair and expectedly the focal part of the event before the semis and the final.
{{/usCountry}}Under the changed format, four teams would be divided into five Groups during Round 1, trimming the early exchanges to 30 matches (58%) of the entire competition. Subsequently, two teams from each group would qualify for Super 10s, involving two groups of five teams each. The Super 10s would be a 20-match affair and expectedly the focal part of the event before the semis and the final.
{{/usCountry}}Competition
Broadly speaking, the smaller nations have become more competitive. USA in 2024 staged an upset by beating Pakistan. Nepal gave England a scare in 2026. Zimbabwe displaced Australia to make it to the next round, this year. But, it is argued, Super 10s would better the tournament by ensuring a beefed up advanced round in line with global sporting practice. Besides, the tournament would still retain the colour that Associate nations bring.
The money-spinning India-Pakistan clash would still be played only once - in one of the two rounds, it is learnt. It may be that the current arrangement of India and Pakistan being in the same group during Round 1 is persisted with to help provide the right buzz to the tournament.
With the T20 format seen as the vehicle of growth, the World Cup has been expanded from 12 teams in 2007 to 20 teams now. While there have been suggestions to open the tournament to even more teams, the gulf in class between the leading teams and the next tier - the unpredictability of T20 notwithstanding - means such a move will have to wait.
The Super 10 tweak, if it comes to pass, will be implemented 2028 onwards when the marquee event goes to Australia-New Zealand. The 2030 T20 World Cup will be played in the UK.
There is also talk of bringing a change to the ODI World Cup format by cutting participants from a proposed 14 to 12, but sources close to developments deny such a move is being considered with seriousness, not for next year’s 2027 World Cup.